This study centers on the effect that participating in a voluntary association has on its members' general level of trust, proposing that not only a direct effect exists, but that the relationship is moderated by three specific characteristics of an association: its goals, the diversity of its composition, and the outside contacts that the association provides its members. Thus, associations proposed to create conditions fostering the spillover of personalized trust to others in society were those with the following characteristics: (a) engage in activities that go beyond the attainment of its members' self-interested goals, seeking public goods beneficial to society as a whole; (b) congregate dissimilar people in terms of demographic characteristics---age, education, sex, regional provenance and social class; and (c) foster frequent interaction with outsiders who are not similar to the members of the association. Additionally, the study examines the assertion that intense family ties prevent trust from developing beyond family boundaries, by looking at the relationship between the cultural values of individualism and collectivism at the individual level and general trust in others. The following hypotheses were stated: (a) individuals high in individualism will, in general, show higher general trust in others than individuals high in collectivism, (b) horizontal-individualists will, in general, show higher general trust in others than verticals-individualists, (c) individuals high in individualism will, in general, belong to more voluntary associations, and (d) the number of memberships in voluntary associations of a given individual will be directly related to his or her general trust in others. Through a field study in two cities in Colombia, I found that none of the study's hypotheses were supported, suggesting that either methodological flaws prevented results from materializing or the relationships that have been evidenced in other countries are non-existent in this country due to some proposed explanations. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed and the need for further research in Colombia and elsewhere on maturation processes of general trust in other people is underscored / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_25815 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Contributors | Salgado, Elvira (Author), Folger, Robert (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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